One of the problems with having a diverse magical education is that it gives you so many options, it can sometimes be difficult to know which one is the best for a given situation. Specialization has its own shortcomings, to be sure, but when all you can do is throw fire at things, you seldom waste time worrying about what your next move ought to be. In a similar vein, while knowing dozens of spells may make you that much more adaptable, unpredictable, and dangerous to your enemies, it does your allies no favors when - in the absence of an existing plan - they have to try and figure out what you'll do next. Then there are situations like this one, where your allies have a much better idea than you of what needs to be done - both for them as individuals, and the group as a whole - and there simply isn't enough time to bring them up to speed.

Fortunately, you do have one adult ally who has at least some idea of your magical skills.

"Sensei," you say into the tense stillness.

"Yes, Alex?" the old man replies without turning to face you.

"Tell me what you need."

Gained Filial Piety E

Your master tilts his head slightly. You can almost hear his mind working, reviewing all you've told him of your magical abilities, and what he's seen for himself.

"Time, lad," Lu-sensei replies grimly. "We could definitely use more of that."

"I can help everyone to move faster," you reply.

"Please do."

No sooner said, than done. At your current level of ability, you're able to cast a haste spell that affects everyone in the room. Granted, it costs you more mana than the personalized version you cast before coming up here - which has, incidentally, since expired - but the obvious benefits to your allies make the extra cost more than worthwhile. You note the adults making thoughtful, testing movements as your magic takes effect, adjusting to the new limits of their speed.

Gained Augmentation D

"I would not object to a small army, either," your teacher adds dryly, obviously thinking back to the conversation in Hawaii about your origins and eventful past life. He's at least half-joking, of course - but, as it happens, you can give him what he asked for.

You leave the corner where Kasumi is tending her father, slip past Altria - who murmurs a startled protest and quickly moves to keep covering you with her shield - and proceed almost all the way up to the wall at the back of the room. From here, you can look over Altria's head and past the injured warrior in the doorway - his face is vaguely familiar, you think absently - and just catch a glimpse of movement a short way down the hall.

"Alex," Altria hisses, "what are you doing?"

"Calling an army," you answer tersely, before slipping into an extended spell-chant. Even speaking as quickly as you dare, the casting lasts twice as long as most of the spells you've used before. Upon reaching the end of the arcane litany, you extend one arm past Altria's crouched form and point at a spot in empty air, down the hall and just a bit to one side of that indistinct, ninja-esque form you so briefly spotted. A final word releases the spell, and a cloud of living darkness materializes in the hall with a chorus of tiny, high-pitched shrieking voices - as well as several startled outbursts in Japanese. With a single triumphant cry, the swarm of bats wheels about and falls upon the nearest moving bodies, engulfing the unseen ninja in a storm of hundreds - perhaps thousands - of tiny bodies, all of them screaming and biting and buffeting the shadow warriors they have suddenly enveloped.

"...an army," Lu-sensei repeats, looking at you. He can't see the swarm from his position, but he can surely hear them.

You shrug. "Okay, so it's more of an air force."

Gained Summoning E++

"How long will your magic last?" the man in white asks quickly, ducking his head just far enough out the door to glance from side to side.

"The first spell is good for another forty seconds and change," you answer. "The bats will stay as long as I will them to, and a bit longer afterwards. They're focused on their current target for now, but if he goes down or gets away from them, they'll attack the nearest thing they see."

"Inconvenient," Altria notes.

The Japanese warrior merely nods, and without looking back, speaks to the other adults. "Two of them to either side. Those on my right are thoroughly distracted by the bats, with a third one behind them, injured and making for the end of the hall. Master Lu, if I draw the attention of the pair to my left, can you get behind them?"

"I can, Master Jo. That is, if Lady Ayame has no objection to holding the room in our absence?"

"Be swift, gentlemen," she advises them, hand now full of a brace of blades.

Even with your ki sight switched off, you can almost see "Jo" start to shine as he reinforces his aura. You have no trouble at all sensing the intense, fierce heat of his ki - or its faint but definite similarity to Altria's. You can almost hear the dragon roaring. Lu-sensei's aura is not so exotic, feeling much like that of an ordinary human - only exponentially stronger, more focused, and of course, older - though there is something to it that makes you think of great distances and half-forgotten memories of your earliest childhood.

Gained Ki Sense E

Jo surges forth from the doorway with positively alarming speed, dodging a fireball and a volley of shuriken with casual ease before he disappears from your view. Lu-sensei is just as fast, right up to the point where you feel space-time twist around him, and he simply vanishes. In the same instant, you hear shouts of dismayed surprise, a flurry of fists meeting flesh, two large and not entirely solid objects crashing with considerable force.

"Alexander, Altria," Ayame says firmly. "Back here, if you would."

"Of course, ma'am," Altria replies, giving you a look.